Eliza Labs founder declares native token 'dead,' winds down foundation after Burwick Law settlement

Shaw Walters, founder of Eliza Labs and the open-source ElizaOS AI agent framework, announced that the associated token is "dead" and that the related foundation is winding down.

In a lengthy post on social media platform X, Walters said Burwick Law had sued the project and that the team settled with a group of holders by transferring the remaining treasury and available funds. 

In April, Burwick Law filed a federal class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Walters, Eliza Labs and other affiliates, accusing them of false advertising, deceptive acts and practices, negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment.

The lawsuit claimed that the project falsely marketed itself as an autonomous, AI-managed venture fund governed by an independent agent when it was allegedly controlled by Walters and other insiders. It also accused the project of diluting holders during a token migration from ai16z (AI16Z) to Eliza OS, after a16z took issue with the project's original branding.

"Their claim was ridiculous, but we didn't have the capital to legally fight it so we settled on giving them the rest of what we had," Walters said. 

Completely dead

According to the post, Walters said he does not intend to support or launch another token linked to Eliza. He advised holders that there would be no further foundation support, buybacks, or supply measures, and that the token is "completely ngmi." 

"The token is dead. Completely. The foundation is winding down," Walters wrote. "I am starting over, since I own the IP, and I am never letting a token come close to Eliza again."

He characterized the token community and broader crypto market culture as being dominated by endless complaints and gambling dynamics, and said he would instead focus on open-source AI agent technology.

"We're still gonna be here in 10 years, pushing at the edge of what agents can do and going where the big corps won't go," Walters said.

When the project launched in October 2024 on Solana as ai16z, it set out to create an AI-managed decentralized autonomous organization and venture-style fund. It positioned an autonomous AI agent as the core decision-maker for investments and operations, aiming to automate aspects of venture capital and DAO governance that traditionally relied on human committees. 

Since the rebranding to ElizaOS in January 2025, the project has maintained its focus on the open-source Eliza AI agent framework for building, deploying, and managing AI agents.